Food cartons or containers, for use in particular in the fast food industry, are disposable items conventionally formed of lightweight paperboard folded and fixed in a predetermined configuration.
Such containers are intended for a wide variety of products. Thus, the containers have heretofore of necessity been made in a variety of configurations, for example the conventional closed single chamber clamshell for hamburgers and the like, open multi-compartment serving trays adapted to accommodate different foodstuffs to be consumed on the restaurant premises, multi-compartment covered containers to accommodate separate foods in a single closed carton, and the like.
The necessity for separate specialized containers requires maintaining sufficient storage space for an adequate supply of each of the specialized containers used by the fast food establishment. Specialized containers also require the dispenser of the food to select among multiple different types of containers with each order processed. Additional problems involve differing manufacturing techniques and equipment, separate packaging, etc.
All of the above factors contribute to increasing the expense of the products provided. This in turn is particularly undesirable with regard to fast food containers which are throwaway items, and, to be economically acceptable, should not be a major factor in determining the price of the food dispensed.